My day is ruined.

OK, that’s a little melodramatic. I’m just kidding. But how would you feel? Here’s the discussion from Facebook, beginning where I share the tragedy with the world. Validation abounds. Now do you non-users see why we like Facebook?

Having children who cook isn’t always as great as it sounds. Why is it so hard to say, “Mom, I just used the last of the___”? Why, why, why?!

Cynthia L Strang We have the EXACT same problem here… But FINALLY this past week The Lord put it into perspective for me- in the light if Eternity… It really doesn’t matter!!!! They are cooking! Praise The Lord!!

Savannah Perkins-Berniquez maybe put a grocery list or white board (those magnetic locker ones from the dollar store or something) on the fridge so they can write down when they finish something up? So annoying to be in the middle of something only to realize you’ve run out of a crucial ingredient!

Lois Groat If they write it on the list, we (the parents) pay to replace it. If they don’t, then whoever used it up and did not write it on the list pays for it. It does not solve the problem, but it helps with the grocery bill.

Lois Groat I have to respectfully disagree with Cynthia. It is inconsiderate, selfish, disrespectful and disobedient to not let others know when you have used something up that others will need in the future. And those things do matter in light of eternity. Training our teens to think of others and not just themselves is very important. Also, at this moment in my life, it seems like the hardest thing I will ever do.

Shawna Bloom I’d venture to guess, Cynthia is indeed training her kids. I like what she shared because as parents we are human too. I forget to write things on the list just as often as my girls. Grace. We’re working together, learning and helping each other.

MamaGab Oh I’m right there with you, though it’s my husband who makes that mistake! I would never consider him to be inconsiderate, selfish, disrespectful or disobedient. Helpful, Christlike, selfless, but forgetful would be my adjectives! We’re going to put a notepad on the fridge to help with this, though I’m not certain it’ll fix the problem. He’s a sweetie to help me cook at all!

Cheryl Lynn Chavez Here’s a new one. . .those ‘on the vine’ tomatoes. . .instead of pulling the tomato off the vine. . .they SLICE it off with a knife and leave the piece attached to the stem and put them back into the bag! Makes me CRAZY!!!

Life in a ShoeCynthia L Strang, I appreciate your thoughts and I remind myself to be grateful that they *are* cooking, but I also think Lois Groat makes a good point. I wish I knew just where to find the balance between the two.

Life in a ShoeKelly DeAtley, we do have smartphones with a shared grocery list. That’s why it is so frustrating when I don’t know they used the last of something. They don’t have to find me and tell me; they can add it to the list themselves if they want.

Life in a Shoe It’s only fair to mention what we’re out of: cocoa powder. If it was something frivolous like laundry soap or milk I wouldn’t care so much, but being out of cocoa powder destroyed my plan for afternoon brownies. Argh!

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Sorry the recipe’s in the metric system, but conversion is easily done online or turn it into a math lesson for one or more of the kids if you’re feeling lazy ;), but it’s well worth the effort.

200g dark cooking chocolate (about one chocolate bar; possibly a little less, but I chuck the whole thing in with excellent results)
120g salted butter, softened and cut into chunks
70g all-purpose flour
160g sugar (you can probably cut that down significantly, but if I’m making brownies, I’m indulging, so I never cut it unless I’m short on sugar)
3 eggs

1) preheat the oven to 300 degrees (that’s not in Celsius, at least)
2) lightly butter and flour baking tin or pyrex dish–So sorry for your loss
3) mix butter and sugar until it creams
4) add eggs one at a time while stirring (I’d advice actually breaking these into a separate bowl if you’re working with little cooks, or someone like me who never manages to crack eggs without needing to fish out slivers of eggshell)
5) then add flour
6) break chocolate into chunks and melt it (bain marie method is best, but it works–if you’re careful–in the microwave, too) the recipe lists this step first, and maybe that’s possible in Texas, but it gets COLD here, and the chocolate will re-harden if I do that step first.
7) add the melted chocolate to the mixture
8) pour it into the dish
9) cook for roughly 25-30 minutes (depending on your oven; mine usually takes longer)
10) dig in and enjoy
11) keep baking chocolate on-hand
12) never have the out-of-cocoa-powder dilemma again

I especially love your last comment in the dialogue!! “If it was something frivolous like laundry soap or milk…” My youngest (16 months) recently dumped most of a whole container of cocoa powder on the pantry/ laundry room floor. Not only is it extremely hard to clean up that much cocoa powder (it must be done in long, frustrating stages), I have not yet made it to the store to replenish my supply! must… have… brownies!!!!

With 6 women cooking in our house, we have this situation too! Plus, I buy something for a specific recipe, and then I go to use it, and it’s GONE!!! At least you’re close enough to a store now that you *could* run out to get some if you wanted. That’s not an option here! And getting everybody to put things back on the pantry shelf WHERE THEY BELONG, so the next cook doesn’t have to play Find the Ingredients while trying to cook, is another problem with so many in the kitchen.

Well, I’m just as bad as the kids/hubby about not getting things on the list so I’m not too frustrated about it yet. At some point when I get really organized about the menu it will probably get easier since I’ll check for all needed ingredients before I go shopping.

As for Facebook, it has become a necessary evil since our church (very small group) has begun using the message function as our main way of communication with each other all week long. We use it for discussing all kinds of “church business” type things and then the ladies have a thread going where we post prayer requests and whoever is on will encourage and pray with whoever is in need. Its become quite a tool for us. However, I have limited my friends list to people I really care about and are in my life on a steady basis and to extended family. I don’t need to keep up with every person I ever knew.

Loved this! And a big ‘ol “YES” this happens at our house. Very frustrating, lol. I was just lamenting about it to my husband yesterday, MOF. And cocoa powder…a staple of course!

Far as Facebook…I’ve tried to like it. Every time I log on there because I have to for some reason, I feel like I just walked into an overcrowded room where everyone is yelling at me. So thanks for sharing that screenshot here where it’s quiet

I enjoyed the entire exchange thoroughly. But I don’t yet know what it is like! My husband rarely cooks, and my children 6, 4, 2, cook alongside me. So when somebody forgets… Oops. That was me! But I did totally save these lessons for another day when my children are cooking independently! Yes, Facebook has many charms.

Another non-facebook user weighing in- this is cool cause it looks like your friends are pretty similar to you, and pretty darn sweet. Facebook is NOT cool when your friends list consists of 500 people you went to high school and college with who’s worlds are as different from yours as night and day, not to mention that you haven’t heard from them in years. I’m totally happy to be done with facebook, I have a lot more real quality emails and phone calls now with the handful of friends that really matter. But anyways it was fun to read your status and remember the facebook days.
ps- I love your blog, but I’m not much of a commenter. This might be the first and last comment from me, so I just wanted to extend that note of thanks. Its helped me a lot adjusting to being a housewife over the last 10 months since I got married. (getting into that “wife and motherhood is great!” mentality that there isn’t much of a voice towards in the world)